Age of the Industry
If you are lucky, one or more of the sources listed in the Industry Profiles section of this research guide will give you information about the age of your industry sector.
However, since industries tend to evolve from one form to another over time, there may be no specific "date of birth" to measure from. At best, you may only be able to determine that your industry sector has been operating for "at least" a certain number of years.
The span of years covered by time series data in the E-Stat database or on the Statistics Canada web site will indicate a minimum age for your industry sector.
See the RRC Library E-Stat Research Guide and the Statistical Data Sources Research Guide for information on E-Stat and other sources of time series data.
The founding date of the oldest company in your industry sector will also give a minimum age.
The following trade directories list companies by sector and show founding date, date of incorporation or number of years in business (these links tell you where to find the items in the Library):
- Canadian key business directory. Indicates year started. A companion to the National Services Directory (below).
- Manitoba business-to-business: sales & marketing directory. Indicates number of years in business up to "more than ten years".
- National services directory. Indicates the year in which the business started.
